Best place to book a rental car for American holiday?

matty114 · 22 Jun 2017 at 03:42

I am going to South Carolina in August with my brother for 11 days and I am just wondering if anyone knows of a good place to look for a car rental. The only time I have ever rented a car was with Europcar for a 2 day trip in Holland so I do not have much experience with renting.

Is there any extra's I should buy and anything I need to look out for when buying? I would like to get it booked sometime next week so it's one thing I do not have to think about for awhile.

Joe T · 22 Jun 2017 at 06:08

Alamo or Hertz. Book from the UK site. Most of the extras (in terms of cover) are not worth it.

P.s. there's a sticky on this

theone8181 · 22 Jun 2017 at 07:47

A few years ago when we honeymooned in florida, we used virgin flydrive. Not sure if you can do it if you have flights with someone else tho, or if in fact its the cheapest but it was convenient.

Maundie · 22 Jun 2017 at 07:57

I think Virgin use Alamo as I was looking at them to do Route 66.

You can also do car hire via Virgin but again it's Alamo.

Daaaveee · 22 Jun 2017 at 08:40

Have used Alamo, Budget and SixT in the past, and I would say Alamo was the best experience and normally cheapest too. I've always used this partner link and have never been asked to present the Brits guide, I do have one as its a good guide and cheap anyway, but I know many use it and from what I have seen havn't been asked to present the guide either. Also dn't forget to used Quidco or Topcashback etc for another few quid back.

www.alamo.co.uk/brits

Maximum Triceratops · 22 Jun 2017 at 09:33

Exactly as above, get the damage waiver to avoid any suprise bills at the end of your rental. They never asked me to see the Brit guide either.

[TW]Fox · 22 Jun 2017 at 10:51

Maximum Triceratops said:
Exactly as above, get the damage waiver to avoid any suprise bills at the end of your rental.

Rentals booked from the UK should include this with zero excess so there is no need to get it on top. Do not use a supplier that does not include it as standard.

Phemo · 22 Jun 2017 at 12:51

Booking Alamo through uscarhire.com worked out a lot cheaper than going Alamo direct for me when I booked two rentals in Las Vegas back in April. Worth checking out for sure, plus it came with all the extras like CDW as standard.

matty114 · 22 Jun 2017 at 13:52

Joe T said:
Alamo or Hertz. Book from the UK site. Most of the extras (in terms of cover) are not worth it.

P.s. there's a sticky on this

I noticed that 5 minutes after I made this thread :/ I will check them out thanks.

Daaaveee said:
Have used Alamo, Budget and SixT in the past, and I would say Alamo was the best experience and normally cheapest too. I've always used this partner link and have never been asked to present the Brits guide, I do have one as its a good guide and cheap anyway, but I know many use it and from what I have seen havn't been asked to present the guide either. Also dn't forget to used Quidco or Topcashback etc for another few quid back.

www.alamo.co.uk/brits

I will have a look thanks.

Hertz want £644 for a Chevrolet Spark which is the cheapest on the list and Alamo want £334 for their cheapest car which is a Mitsubishi Mirage. I don't want something that small, I might go for something like this http://i.imgur.com/Qmyyzep.png Intermediate should be good enough for 2 people and 2 luggage bags.

easyrider · 22 Jun 2017 at 13:54

I used these when booking my trip to Vegas and LA

was perfect

https://www.uscarhire.com/

I added this cause it was about 35 quid

http://www.enhancedroadsideassistance.com/?Ref=OV0

Gambisk · 22 Jun 2017 at 14:25

we used virgin last year and saved a good whack vs booking directly. That was untill I upgraded to a camero at the pick up :rolleyes:

acemastr · 22 Jun 2017 at 14:49

How old are you? under 25 there's generally an underage premium

Phemo · 22 Jun 2017 at 14:54

Gambisk said:
we used virgin last year and saved a good whack vs booking directly. That was untill I upgraded to a camero at the pick up

I did the same from US Car Hire. Got a good price on a standard car for a few days and was happy with that then I ended up going for a Camaro too. Had to be done

matty114 · 22 Jun 2017 at 16:09

acemastr said:
How old are you? under 25 there's generally an underage premium

26

[GSV]Lemming · 22 Jun 2017 at 16:55

I am going to New York on 1st September, but returning from Toronto on 21st September. I cant get a quote from uscarhire online, so have emailed them likely due to the one way issue across countries.

Has anyone done this, whats the most economical way to sort it out?

matty114 · 23 Jun 2017 at 05:21

Alamo is not going to happen, my flight gets in at 19:15 and they close at 2pm. That sucks because they had good prices :/

Might get one on uscarhire.com, its £64 more for the same class but they are open when I get there and is located at the airport, Alamo for Charleston Airport is offsite 15 minutes away.